I've been working on this project on and off for about 5 years now - some of you might remember my journal about Thor, which I had to abandon due to an unstable code base. I started work on Sledge about 2 years ago, and it only contains very small portions of the original Thor code.

The current Sledge release is an alpha release, which means that there are still some key features that need to be added and the features that are there may be unstable at times. However I think that right now it's at a point where people can start trying it out to see what they think (and hopefully report some bugs! ).

Alpha means stuff is missing. The important missing things are:

Support for opening multiple maps at once

Advanced compile options (I recommend you use a batch compiler for now, current compiling support is very primitive)

Rendering models

Autosaving

Prefabs

Cameras

Automatic detection of game configurations (for now, configure it manually like Hammer 3.5)

Transparent tool brush rendering (think trigger brushes in Hammer 4)

Once the missing features are added, then I will start on Source support for version 2. Right now, it only works with Goldsource.

A few screenshots:

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the program and if you do try it out, please submit bug reports! When you find a bug (there are plenty), let me know by posting it here, or if you have a GitHub account, you can register an issue on the Sledge repository. And if you get the error reporting window, please click the submit button so I can see those bugs as well

Ok, looks like running as administrator is the work-around for now. I will work on trying to get it to prompt for the proper credentials so it works nice with UAC.

@Scotch: Well, right now, only a few things like:

Multiple visgroups and automatic visgroups (from Hammer 4)

3D clipping (instead of just drawing a line in 2D)

Better decimal point / floating point handling (think HLFix or the various hammer patches for this)

Native support for big maps (use the source min/max commands in your FGD)

Renders textured decals in the 3D view

Various UI improvements in places

You can see the features that need to be added before it's out of alpha, some of these are not in Hammer 3:

Good compile support (full batch compiler UI)

Autosaves

Works nice with Steam

Automatic configuration (looks in the registry and Steam for game configs)

Transparent rendering of tool brushes (trigger, clip, etc)

Once out of alpha I'm looking at adding the following:

Native displacements that compile down to brushwork (say goodbye to triangle terrain)

Native instances that compile down to brushwork (for those unfamiliar, think prefabs that reference an external map. Update the map, and all instances are updated)

Plugin support (e.g. built in Twister, add your own features)

Collaborative mapping over network/Internet

Built-in support for version control like SVN/Git/etc and maybe synchronisation of files using dropbox/etc

Tools for creation of models, textures, etc without needing to leave the editor

Those are just some ideas, there are plenty more possibilities. Goldsource (and eventually Source) will always be first-class citizens, I wont ditch improvements for Goldsource once Source support is added.

So far so good. A few errors popped out on the settings tabs, but nothing that crashed the program.As Captain T said, space + click movement is missing. That is a really good feature.Also, zoom out limit, i can zoom out off to another dimension. As well as zoom in.

Also, i know its a bit far off, but i would love an .T3D import converter (Unreal Tournament 99 - For smaller objects of course, Meshes and Geometry)

[Edit]

Once an object is out of the 2D screen view it can not be selected.2D screen does not move when you try to stretch the brush you're creating. You need to unzoom first.Delete button doesn't do anything lol.

Thanks guys, I wasn't aware of the space movement in the 2D views. I'll work on that plus the missing hotkeys and the errors in the next update

Stojke: Extra file formats are very possible. The code is very flexible in that area For the delete key not working: I've gotten that before, the hotkeys seem to stop working sometimes. Close and re-open the map, that usually fixes it.

CapT: Due to my incompetence in the graphics department, Strider is making some nice icons for me. He's the one who made the fancy tool icons on the left. Hopefully he will make me a nice desktop icon too

Damn guy, you're good with C#. How do you know all this stuff, specifically all the 3D stuff?

If you're so good, you shouldn't have much trouble designing your own built-in compiler and have that replace Compilator 3, because, and let me be honest with you, the current version of C3 isn't that optimized and contains messy code here and there.

One suggested to implement C3 in Sledge, but I don't know if that's a good idea. Maybe later. I'm planning to rebuild C3 in C# this time, as I've been using VB.Net up until now.

Atom: Thanks. All my 3D knowledge is self taught, but most of the stuff I learned the hard way through trial and error and a lot of Googling

Is it possible that you could release your C# version of Compilator under a GPL compatible license when you get around to doing it? I think that I could merge it into Sledge's code base, it would save me a lot of work Regardless of what you plan on doing, hit me up if you have any questions about C# or Sledge's programming. I would love if you wanted to contribute to the Sledge code base!

If you're interested maybe we could integrate all or part of The Compilator into the Sledge repo and offer it as part of the package? Only if you're interested of course, I will get around to implementing that kind of thing myself otherwise. I'm focusing on other stuff atm because good compilation programs like The Compilator already exist

Is it possible that you could release your C# version of Compilator under a GPL compatible license when you get around to doing it?

I still don't really want to make my code public-ally available, but I'm willing to share my code (entire project directory at that) with you so you can see how to implement it in Sledge. At least I get some bragging right. (I designed the Sledge compiler!)

I've been saying this for a long time, but I really want to release my current built (Compilator 3 Version 3.0.0.00, Beta 1.0) to the public even though the application isn't perfect. I guess that's why there are beta's, eh? While people are toying with it, I want to move on the Compilator 4 (working title?) and move to C#.

I can't recall if I have .NET 4.0 installed, or it's 3.0, but either way I'm going to try it out. If it doesn't run I'll assume it's because I don't have 4.0. If it runs and crashes, I'll be sure to report.

Atom, that's cool but if you do want to release it publicly but Sledge is using a GPL license so if you do provide me any code I will only be able to use it in Sledge if you give it a compatible license

@Stojke: C# is good for Windows stuff, and with Mono I hear it works pretty well for Linux/Mac as well. I haven't tried Mono yet but ideally in the future Sledge might work with it. I wonder how platform-independent the compile tools are, would be neat to do GS mapping on a Unix platform

Thrilled to bits that this has made it to alpha! I'ma repost a PM I sent you years ago, though, because I still think it'd be a great addition!

Mocked this up quickly to demonstrate a couple of ideas I had for the face editor. Firstly a random shift function which works with the "treat as one" tickybox. It would allow you to quickly randomize, for example, a set of stairs so that they don't so obviously tile on the X plane.

Secondly, something gtkRadient has which always amazed me wasn't implemented in Hammer 4 - a tiling fit option so that you can fit, say, 4 tiles of a texture to a face rather than just stretching it to 1, untiled fit. This is extremely useful.

Thanks for reposting that Archie, I hadn't forgotten about it but this is a good reminder and I'll post it to the GitHub issues list as a feature request. The question is, where to put it on the Sledge texture dialog? I might need to add some tabs...

Edit 2.0: Been working on fixes, but now it's time for bed. I'll put an update out tomorrow that should stop those errors in the settings window, plus add spacebar+drag movement and drag-scrolling into the 2D window.

@Stojke: Could you please clarify this bug? I'm not sure what it means: "Once an object is out of the 2D screen view it can not be selected."

Hey all, I've fixed most of the bugs and missing features that you guys have reported. Just start the app and it should ask you to do an update. If the updater screws up just download the installer from the website and reinstall. Let me know how you go!

Change list:

Space+mouse drag movement in 2D views

Drag-scrolling in 2D views

Fixed some errors in the settings form when there are no builds set up. Fixes #4, fixes #5

Thanks Kraken. To move the 3D camera, hit Z to go into freelook mode and use WASD. I'll probably add in the other camera controls in the 3D views soon (left click = look, right click = move around, etc) so people who use those controls instead of free look can use controls they are comfortable with.

You do have to press enter to create a brush and select objects with a box, that's the same as Hammer's default settings. I know Hammer has an option to automatically select as soon as you draw the box, but I don't know if it works for brush creation as well. I will investigate how that setting works and see how I can implement it in Sledge

Labels in the corners can be done, however I will add them later as rendering text is a whole big problem that I have managed to avoid so far

As I get suggestions and bugs I'm adding them all into the GitHub issues register so I can keep track of them. Keep the bug/missing feature reports and feature suggestions coming everyone! I have just finished implementing autosave for the next release, so look forward to that coming soon

Stu: Yes. Every release also has a standalone zip for those who don't want an installer. Download the latest version from the GitHub release page.

I could suggest a bunch more tools that would be fundamentally helpful but I haven't seen it yet so I'll wait to write stuff about it.

EDIT:

ok...

Grid doesn't show up on mine, then again, I have Radeon graphics.

Using the VM tool, you can't select a brush by clicking it in any of the view ports. First thing I noticed.

There is no auto-enter for selection, you have to draw your selection and hit enter to select. Hammer had the option to automate is a little. I use it a lot though its preferential.

I have no idea how to load textures.

Suggestions: Nothing major, but if you're going to have a fine level of decimal coords for brushwork, a weld, target weld, or vert-collapse to single point would be useful in unifying geometry and all that.

Stu: Looks like your graphics card might not support OpenGL 3.3, what GPU are you using? Are you on a laptop? I might be able to downgrade the shader version with a few changes, I will need to investigate. The easiest fix is if it is possible for you to update your drivers to a version that supports OpenGL 3.3 which has been supported in drivers since about 2010.

Rim: Did you check that 'show 2D grid' was turned on? I don't have a Radeon graphics card to test, does anybody else with an ATI card have a missing grid?

To set up textures, open the game configuration, click the 'textures' tab, and add your WADs there. All the other missing features have been noted

Weird error selecting/ungrouping the Skybox brushes from This Map. i can't seem to select it from the 3dview, even with the ignore groups button checked. (converting it to vmf makes it behave normally, and/or i can select and ungroup it from the 2d view)

Also btw, do you plan to add the center selection handles? I miss them, but i must admit like the reduced visual clutter =)

Also too, i love that the texture properties shows you multiple faces if you've selected an object with multiple textures, neat!

Stu: That would explain it, Intel doesn't like updating graphics drivers. I've been able to port my shaders down to OpenGL 3.0 (from version 3.3) which reportedly works on your GPU. I'll release an update in the next few hours, so check back soon

CapT: I've been undecided about the handles for a long time. On complex maps, they really do add a lot of clutter and make it hard to see anything. I'm not sure what to do about them. Interesting issue with that rocket map, I will see if I can locate the cause.

I don't think handles are optional in Hammer, but they would be if I added them in. But I want to find a way to do the handles better, so even when they're turned on they don't clutter up the 2D view so much. And yeah, selecting stuff by the handles or edges will have settings as well.

@CapT: I found the issue in that map, it's because the skybox is hidden with a visgroup. I'm not hiding visgrouped objects properly on load, so I need to fix that.

Edit: New release! Just start the program to do the auto-update or download it manually and do it that way.

Change list:

The updater prompts for UAC (as it needs to overwrite application files)

Implemented autosaving

Add "toggle ignore grouping" hotkey. Fixes #20.

Check that a solid entity exists before tying to entity. Fixes #24.

Switch to GLSL 130 (OpenGL 3.0) in an attempt to support older hardware

If you look up to my second post in this thread, you can see a rough roadmap of features I want to include. Instances is on the list

Edit: New release! I added a bunch of options that were missing, including the options for the center handles and automatic selection. Looking forward to hearing people's thoughts! As usual, start the program to auto-update or download it manually from the website if you want.

Change list (0.1.0.6):

Added 3D camera FOV option

Grid settings update immediately (doesn't require restart)

Add option for auto select when selection box is drawn. Fixes #17

Added option to keep visgroups when cloning objects

Implemented option for back clipping plane

Fixed some snapping issues with the selection boxes

Implemented selection by center handles. Fixes #23

Added options to switch to select tool after brush and entity creation

Added options to automatically select created brushes and entities

Added option to deselect other objects when automatically selecting the created object

Oops, there was a bug in 0.1.0.6 that was crashing on quite a few things, update to 0.1.0.7 which I have just released to fix it. Not sure if it will fix your issue Stu, but the error reports appear to be different than before, so that's a good start

I'm getting a bunch of errors that appear to be caused by an invalid WAD file, if anybody gets a crash message that says "Unable to get image dimensions" can you contact me so we can nail down the cause? Thanks! (Edit: never mind, the last error message specified the WAD file name, all good!)

@Stu: No worries on the options window, will do. For the crash window, just expand the window to see more of the error. I'll add a scroll bar as well, though.

I've done you a favour Penguin and mentioned on Facepunch. I know you guys think it's a cesspit of filth (which it is) but some of the mappers there are pretty talented people. It's gathering quite a lot of interest there.

Question/IdeaCan you set up Sledge to canabalize/borrow config settings and preferances from an existing hammer setup(if there is one), to make the setup basically automatic?

Or would that be considered cheating? =P

Plugin ideaA screen shot utility(i know someone here coded one already, but i can't remember who), for quicker easier in-dev shots. In fact, maybe you could do something like Archie did with the preset cameras, for those sweet time lapses he did for The Core?

Thanks Instant, could you post a link to the thread so I can keep track of any bug reports?

@CapT: Yep, I plan to have it scan for existing Hammer installs as well as look for any installed games and automatically pre-configure them The screenshot thing is a neat idea, make a note of it because it's still a long way away from having plugin support

I got through to the new map, at last. Love the clip tool on steroids. But there is something that, just like in hammer, I don't quite get. Using the mouse scroll wheel to zoom in/out zooms in/out by strange amounts. It's not just 1.0/1.25/1.5/2.0 or 1.0/0.75/0.5/0.25/0.1, instead the progression is 1.0/1.20/1.44/1.73/2.07 and 1.00/0.83/0.69/0.58/0.48 and so on. What is the logic behind this progression? Because I can't make any sense out of it.

Like Rim, I can't see the grid. I double checked it was turned on in the Map menu, but it's still not there. Neither 2D grid nor 3D grid.

Seems I can't see the Cordon either.

Visual detail: Selection handles aren't always an X. Sometimes they seem to be a pixel or two short, the asymmetry really hurts my OCD.